The Night Baron
by Jasutisu
Summary: Kuroba Toichi and Kudo Yuusaku had never met before, but Kaitou KID and the Night Baron were adversarys in their nighttime pursuits. Such an unlikely alliance, friendship even was formed and every enemy of theirs should beware.
1. Chapter 1

Yuusaku knew he had, for all his intelligence, many a fault, and only one of whom was his couriosity.

Even if that particular fault had many times been utilized for good. But now, as he was standing in the shadows of the illuminated roof top, being obscured by his strange feeling costume, he wasn't sure if I had been such a good idea to confront the Kaitou 1412 like this.

Sure, Yukiko had been extatic to design his costume and play what she considered a massive prank on the police. He had happily gone along with it too, all in the hopes of confronting the thief in a situation which would allow them to talk on neutral ground, without one chasing the other.

The disguised mystery writer heaved a sigh. He was also not sure if it had been such a good idea to model his costume after the main character of his first publication. But the deed was done now and there was no going back anymore.

Suddenly the flickering of lights and the clatter of footsteps jerked him out of his thoughts.

'Here goes nothing', Yuusaku muttered darkly to himself, as he watched a white clad silhouette rush through the door to the roof, followed by a throng of police officers. Then there was a loud bang and lots of smoke and the flickering lights ceased completely. When they turned on again a few seconds later, the police was faced with the edge of the building and the silhouette of the Phantom thief sailing towards the moon.

Yuusaku waited until every last police officer had cleared from the roof and stepped out of the shadows at almost the same time as tonights opponent.

1412 broke the silence first.

'I noticed you in the shadows during the heist. You are good.'

Yuusaku carefully kept his voice flat answering.

'And you are observant. I'm impressed by the way.'

'Huh? By me being observant? Lots of people are. Even Nakamori-keibu is sometimes.'

1412s voice was equally flat, but Yuusaku wasn't fooled for one bit. If the thief continued this conversation then that could only mean he was as courious as Yuusaku himself.

'No. I'm impressed by your ability to lead others to belive _they_ are observant.'

1412 laughed. It even sounded genuine. Yuusaku felt a smile tug as his lips. That laugh was infectious!

'It is after all, what a magician is meant to do, no? Even if your approach is one I haven't heard before. Why just say I'm an illousionist?'

There was something to the thiefs voice tone, that Yuusaku was not entirely able to identify.

'Because, while I am observant, that doesn't make me a detective.'

1412s smirk returned.

'If you are no detective, how about being a theifs opponent then? Leading on police officers is not quite the challenge anymore. You'll know, when I show up next. Come and observe.'

He flashed another smirk and with that the white clad thief threw another smoke bomb and dissapeared iinto the night. Yuusaku let him be, because he had found what he was looking for.

A challenge and nothing more. A challenge from the inside looking out.

 **A.N.: You know, I noticed there were way to little Yuusaku vs Toichi fanfictions. And since the Night Baron seems to be based somewhat on Kaito KID, well the idea reared its ugly head and I just had to write it down.**

 **Usual Disclaimers applay, R &R please, yadda, yadda**


	2. Chapter 2

The heist notes appeared after that. Always a flashy riddle, sometimes one fancy enough to delay the police enough for the theft to be long over.

Yuusaku enjoyed these most immensely, for then he would do their job, without being covert about it. Hinder 1412 steal the jewel or whatever thing had taken the thief's fancy that time. He also knew that what he did those nights on the heists was wrong on some level, but facing off with some harmless, if ingenious, criminal seemed way better than those murder cases he kept stumbling over.

They were really depressing sometimes and they always weighed hard on his mind, so the heists were in a way downtime for him.

Yuusaku was glad he decided to become a mystery writer and not a detective. To also be dealing with crime at work in a non fictional way would sure drive him mad sooner or later!

Now if only his editors would leave him alone and he wouldn't mind so much sometimes being a mystery writer either.

His editors soon became the least of his problems though. At least after he had forwarded a draft for his new novel to them.

But no. His actual problem was, that the public had started to take notice of him. And not the him Kudo Yuusaku, mystery writer. That wouldn't be much trouble but a slight inconvenience mostly.

They had in contrast noticed his night persona. If that was not enough though, they called him 1412s adversary now. An adversary in theft! Really if he was a thief, why the heck should he turn up at another thief's coup? Speak about logic.

To top this off, the newspaper article featuring 1412 and himself, proclaimed more information to be released in tomorrows paper. If that was true he had to check it out. Where did this people get their information from, anyway? Yuusaku supposed he would figure out this evening. If they had already labelled him a thief, then he might as well start his 'new' career by breaking into a news agency. One had to look for information with the source after all.

 **A.N.: Short chapters will be the norm I think. I'm not good at updating otherwise. Though I do realise, that this is** ** _quite_** **short.**

 **And thanks to YourLocalAlchemist for your review! I definitely will read your story too, if you decide to write one. PM me when you publish :D**


	3. Chapter 3

It was certainly strange. He had found an article draft containing even a picture of him and 1412 facing off on the roof. But there was nothing he hadn't had already read in the article this morning.

Where was this supposed new information he wondered?

A puff of familiar smoke diverted his attention for the moment.

Yuusaku eyed the folder that appeared with contempt.

'I found that earlier. They are either speculating that you are my accomplice or my rival for the prize. The police is cited as the source. I'm sorry I didn't notice they had noticed you. And were applying your presence in that context.'

Yuusaku turned around to 1412.

'You are not to blame, so don't apologize. After all', and here Yuusaku lowered his head and smirked, his glasses obscuring his eyes from view, ' It is my own fault for not noticing these eyes on me. And it is nobody's but my own fault these eyes mistook me for a Phantom thief. I certainly dress like one, no Kaito KID?'

At hearing that moniker, the others eyebrows shot up, the only indication of surprise the thief showed. 'Kaito KID? Is that what the newspaper is now calling me?' There was a faint trace of humour in the newly dubbed KIDs voice.

Yuusaku chuckled quietly. 'It might as well be. Don't you read it too? This reporters handwriting sure is atrocious. His '1412' reads like KID. Here you see?' Yuusaku held the report out for the other to see.

'Huh. How peculiar. It's just a pity your new number doesn't look like a name too. After all I now have to return the favour of finding a name, since I don't want to be struck calling you 'Dad'.

It suddenly stuck Yuusaku how abnormal this situation was. He was, after all, standing in the middle of the biggest news agency in Tokyo in the middle of the night and chatting with an internationally wanted criminal!

A laugh was bubbling in his throat at the ridiculousness of it all. It was as if he had somehow become the main character in a bad mystery novel.

He chuckled quietly while KID appeared to be deep in thought.

'Your custom!' The other suddenly remarked.

Now it was Yuusaku's eyebrows which shot up.

You look like a character from a novel in it and I know precisely which novel! The 'Night Baron'! Your getup strongly resembles his, so your new name is going to be 'Night Baron'!'

Yuusaku could almost hear the proud smirk KID was sure to have on his face.

But 'Night Baron'? That was almost too much to be a coincidence.

'You sure have a way with names, no? I hope you realize, that that name creation belongs to Kudo-sensei?' The irony wasn't lost on Yuusaku.

'With mine, at least a little credit belongs to that messy reporter, so lets call it even, _Tou-san_.'

'Alright I concur. We only take half the credit in naming each other, so that does not make us parents.' This conservation definitely took a turn for the strange . They were discussing their parenthood of all things.

After a moment of silence, KID spoke up again. 'Let's decide on brothers then, alright _Aniki_?'

'It seems fitting, doesn't it, _Nii-san_? May I suggest making our new names public?'

With a grin, Yuusaku produced pen and paper.

 _We are neither friend nor foe_

 _We are as different as night and day_

 _And still our origin is the same_

 _What are we?_

 **Kaito KID** & **_Night Baron_**

 **A.N.: It was mentioned somewhere in the manga, that Yuusaku gave Kaito KID his name when he misread some reporters notes. I just thought KID ought to return the favor xD**

 **And I don't have a clue if the suffixes with which Yuusaku and Toichi adress each other are actually used in such context, so sorry for mistakes.**


	4. Chapter 4

/Here we go again... enjoy.

Barons and KIDs duel had been going on for half a year now and the police presence at heists had doubled, but so had Yuusaku's workload, which made him often unable to make an appearance at the heists.

KID didn't seem deterred though, so Yuusaku let other things occupy his mind. His work mainly.

So when the fourth heist in a row had come and gone without him being able to attend, it really shouldn't have come as such a surprise, when KID turned up in his study one evening.

Really, he was quite resourceful. But so was Yuusaku.

'Take your shoes off please, or Yukiko'll make me clean the carpet. You can hang your hat and cape

into the closet in the entrance hall, Nii-san.' Yuusaku did not even look up from his work.

He did however look up, when he heard his house guest settle himself in the chair facing his desk just a few seconds later.

Hat and monocle were gone and Yuusaku stared into a face so similar of his own, that they could have easily been real brothers.

'Good evening Aniki. I came tonight to ask after your well-being after your repeated absence tonight.' KID had an easy smile on his face.

'Kuroba-kun, just a moment. I just have to finish this paragraph and then I can take a break and we can talk.'

For a moment all you could hear was the rapid clattering of Yuusaku's typewriter. His fingers flew over the keys at lightning speed, as he typed out the last of his newest creation, ironically a new book for his Night Baron series.

When the typing ceased, Yuusaku leaned back in his chair with an easy smile on his face.

'So, my friend. What is it? I didn't deem you the type for a casual visit. And indeed it does not look like one.' Yuusaku gestured to Toichis costume.

'You are right of course. Though I wondered where you were the last nights, this didn't prompt my visit. I have been approached by a criminal organisation. They promised me compensation, for my services as a thief. They wanted me to steal a gem called 'Pandora'. I refused of course, but I don't think they took that well. Tonight I was being shot at. And as the police force would never do that, that left only one conclusion.' Toichi leaned back into his chair as Yuusaku steepled his hands under his chin and rested his arms on his desk. He frowned. 'That is indeed quite serious. We both have family to consider, so it would take some clever cover work to conceal our real identities...'

Yuusaku trailed off, when he noticed the slight twitch on the others face, though his tone appeared calm and rational when he spoke.

'I never meant for you to tangle yourself into this mess. I value your opinion as a colleague and a friend but don't choose to fight my battles.'

Yuusakus eyebrow rose up at this. 'My friend, I hope you realise that we two are in this together. Don't fool yourself. You came to me for a reason, Kuroba-kun and as it is I am in the line of fire anyway.' He too leaned back in his chair and ffor a few minutes there was a heavy silence between them. Until Toichi sighed. 'You are riight of course, I'm sorry. So, what do you propose we do?'

'Well, foiling their plans, of course. The same you had planned anyway I presume.'

A face splitting grin appeared on Toichis features and Yuusaku felt himself mirroring his partner in crime.

It would be hard, but they'd manage.


End file.
